Refrigerator.



W. 0. COLEMAN.

REFRIGERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 20, 1909,

Patented; Mar. 1,1910."

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W. U. GOLF-MAN.

REFRIGERATOR. APPLIOATIdN FILED SEPT. 20, 1909. 95 76 *1 Patented Mar. 1,1910.

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3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W. U. COLEMAN.

REFRIGERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 20, 1909.

Patented Man 1,1910.

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" mmlmml rains manner unmet c. COLEMAN, or CHICAGO, runners, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF r0 ALFRED c. i rLo'rHow, or OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 20, 1909. Serial No. 518,570.

To all whom it may concern:

"Be it known that I,\VILLIAM C. COLEMAN.

a citizen ofthe United States, residing at bar-room, and, ot

'Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented. certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerators, of

. type in which the refrigerating is obtained the use of ice.

- The invention has for one of its objects toprovide an extremely simple, etliclcnt, practmalund economical refrigerator, so

. designed that different degrees of temperaturc can be obtained for different articles in the claims appended hereto.

In the accomganyi ng drawings, WlllCll to be preserved, and at the same time, re-

quiring very little attention.

Another object of the invention is. the revision of a refrige'ator havinga comined brine and cracked ice containing chamber which almost Wholly surrounds the compartments in which the articles to be cooled are contained, and in the bottom of the chamber is an overflow device for of the ice can trickle down along the walls of the other compartments to contribute in cooling the same.

Another object of the invention is to provide a removable overflow or drainage device for maintaining the cooling brine, in the ice chamber of the refrigerator and Which-is removable for permitting the said chamber to be quired. b

Withthese objects inview and others, as will appear as the description proceeds, the invention comprises the-various novel feareadily cleanedv when retures of construction and arrangement of Earts which will be inorc fullyfdescribcd ereinafter and. set forth with particularity illustrate one em odiment of the invention,

atmospheric tempcratiu'e. structed of nine and outer shells 1 and 2' Figures 1 and 2 are vertical sections taken, respectively, on lines l l and :'22, F 1g.

3. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line r-"3, Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is a fragmentary bottom 'ierspective view of the internal metal structure of the refrigerator, showing the drainage and the combined plug and overflow device adapted to be titted in the opening but removed therefrom. Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of thc combined plug and overflow device. Fig. (i is a perspective View of the inner sheet metal struc ture of the refrigerator removed. from its protecting box. Fig. Tis a fragmentary sectional view o t a modified form of the refri gera tor.

binnila'r reference characters are our oloved to dcsiu'nate corresiondin warts throughout the views.

Referring to ihe'drawings, A designates the box of the refrigerator which is mounted on a base I; of any suitable construction, and contains a removable sheet metal struc ture the latter being showirin Fig. (i removed from the box. The box con-- slructod. in an suitable manner to afford protection for the inner section L, and also to insulate the cool walls of the latter from The box conof wood or othersuihible material and sepa rated from each other by a chamber that islillcd with .wdust or other non-heatconducling material 3, The box, which open at its top forpermitting the ice to be supplied thereto. is closcd by a cover l adapted to swing open on hinges 5. The front of the box has an opening; (3 for affording access to the cooling compartments for the articles to be pre erved, and, this opening is normally closed by a door 7 for preventing the outside air from coming: into contact with the walls of the compartments.

'lheintcrnal structure U of the refrigerator comprises, as clearly shown in Fig. 6, a casing 8' which is of such dimensions as to removably fit in the box A, and this -as-.

ing is open at its top 9 and closed at its lower end by a bottom 10. Vitlnn the cats lug-8 is an internal casing 11, the front wall of which is formed by the front wall of the outer casing, and SllITl Ollllflll'lg the three sides of the inner casing is a brine and cracked ice chamber 12 whereby the air in the innercasing 1 1 is kept cool. The res llatented Mar. 11, 1910'.

'ing 11 is divided into a plurality of superimposed compartments 13, 1 1, 15 and 16', by horizontal partitions 17. Any desired number of compartments maybe employed and they may be subdivided 'into smaller chambers, if found necessary. The upper compartment 16 "is used for the-purpose of .packing such articles as fish, oysters and the like, together with cracked ice. This compartment is open at its top for permittingthe packing of the fish or oysters, and a, lid 18 is provided for closing the com- 7' apartment. In the sides of the compartment 16, adjacent its bottom, are drainage openings 19 through which. the water from the melted ice can flow down the walls of the [lower compartments to assist in cooling the same. The opening 6 extends from the bottom of the box to a point adjacent the bottom of the upper compartment,and the'compartments 13, 14 and 15, each have a front opening 20 closed by a hinged door 21 which swings outwardly through the opening 6 of -qthebox, when the door 7'thereof is open, the

doors 21 having, any suitable locking devices 21 for keeping them closed; .It will thus be seen that the compartments are en- J tirel'y independent of each other so that "they can be kept at different temperatures and certain classes of foods can be stored in "one, compartment, another class in another compartment, and soon, without danger of the more delicate foods being contaminated by food that is odorous. Th e chamber 12 is water-tight so that a I certain quantity of ice water or brine can be heldtherein, together with cracked ice, and

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at the bottom of theaehamber 12 is a means for maintaining the constant'quantity of the brine therein. For this purpose, a vertical overflow tube 23 is arranged in the chamber:

[adjacent one side of the box and projects .fouror five inches upwardly into the chamber and extends downwardly through the bottom ,of the box Where it discharges into "a suitable receptacle or drain pipe 21. On

the bottom of the overflow tube 23 is a trap 25 in the form of an inverted cone or cup Which becomes filled with Water and seals the lower end of the tube. .The'bott'om of the casing 8 has an opening 26 large enough to permit of the insertion of the arm in orfder toclean out the chamber 12, and extending downwardly from the bottom 10 is afdrain spout or neck 27 which is closed by afthimble or plug28 that forms a support ea v 950,763

spout 27 so that danger of sticking is over- The spout or neck extends downwardly through an opening 33 in the bottom of the box, which opening is hit. enough to permit the spout to freely pins therethrough in removing or replacing the inner metallic part of the refrigerator.

vIn Fig. 7, a modified form oi the refrigerator is shown wherein. the upper compare ment is divided into twochambcrs 3st and 35. The chamber 3 1 is used in the same manner as the chamber 16 in the other form of the invention, while the chamber 35 is used for holding drinking water, there being a faucet 36 which extends outwardly through thefront wall of the box above the door thereof, as clearly shown in Fig. 7.

In the practical operation of the refrigerator, the chamber 12 is filled with cracked ice, which preferably because of economy,

is the salted ice left from ice cream freezers, which, in hotels, restaurants or the like, is usually thrown away and wasted. Since the cooling or refrigerating compart ments are entirely closed, there is no danger of the food being contaminated ii old Waste ice-of this character is used, and the salt used with the ice has a bcnclicial result in producing an extremely low tempo dure, especially at the bottom compartment, where four or five inches of brine is nmintaincd. It has been found, in practice, that with the use of salted ice, the tcmpcraturein the lowercompartment rcache; evoral. degrees below freezing, so that time, articles that require extreme cold can be stored therein.

Since the freezing brine does not reach the other compartments, they will not he as cold as the lower one, and other articles that do not require as low a tci'npcruturc can he stored in them. In emptying the ice from the freezers into the chamber 12, the surplus waterpourcd in with the ice will over-- liow through the tube 23, so that the supply of brine will be automatically maintained at a constant volume. The quantity of ice in the chamber 12 can always be ascertained by opening the cover 18 and looking into the chamber, since such a relatively small quantity of brine. is obtained that the mass of brokenice does not float, but falls bodily as it melts away from the bottom, .By' operating a freezer in this manner, hotel, restauant and other pro )rietors, can run the refrigerato' at very little expense, since sim ply ice that is ordinarily wasted because of its containing salt, is employed.

From the fore oing description, taken. in

connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantages of the construction and of th e method of operation will be readily apparent to' those skilled in the art to which the invention appcrtains, and while I have described the principle of operation of the invention, together with the ap 'iaratus which lit] lar spout depending from theopenmg and stones I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is merely illustrative, and that such changes may be made when desired as are within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: i

1. In a refrigerator, the combination of a pairof casings arranged one within the other to provide an ice-receiving chamber around the inner casing, the bottom wall of said chamber having an opening, a tubular spout extending from the said bottom at the opening, a plug of less cross-sectional-area than the spout and disposed therein, a liquid-tightjoint between the lower ends of the plug and spout, and a drain pipe extending vertically through the plug and projecting above the upper end of the latter to maintain a constant level of cooling water in the bottom of the chamber.

2. In a refrigerator, the combination. of a provision receptacle, a chamber outside the receptacle for receiving ice, the bottom wall of said chamber having an opening, a tubuhaving a surrounding flange at its bottom, a plug disposed. in the opening and having a llango at its bottom, a packing clamped be tween the said flanges, a drain tube extending vertically through the plug-and projecting out of both ends thereof, the upper end of the tube being open and disposed above the bottom of the chamber to maintain a constant level of cooling water in the latter, and acap secured to the lower end of the tube for holding water to seal the latter.

3. In a refrigerator, the combination of an icereceiving receptacle having an opening in its bottom, a protecting box having I an opening in its bottom, a. tubular spout passin through'the opening of the box and j depencing from the aottom of the recep- I tacle at the opening thereof, a peripheral} flange on the bottom of the spout, a plug of less diameter than the spout to loosely fit therein, a flange on the plug, a packing be-.

being disposed above the bottom of the receptacle to maintaina constant level of water therein, and a cap disposed over the lower end of the tube and carried thereby to form a. seal, the opening in the box being of such size as to permit the spout to pass freely through the opening upon removal or insertion of the receptacle from or into the box.

4. A refrigerator comprising a protecting box having an opening in its bottom, a sheet metal structure within the" box formed with a brine and cracked ice chamber, the bottom wall of said chamber having an opening, a drain spout extending from the opening and passing through the opening in the bottom of the box, an overflow tube extending into the chamber through the spout, and a plug fori'ning a support for the tube for the opening.

The coinbmatlon ot a proteetnig box, a

and a closure sheetmetal structure in the box formed with a chamber adapted to receive cracked ice, a

spout extending downwardly from the bottom of the structure and passing through the bottom of the box, a peripheral flange on the spout,-, a plug or thimble disposed within the spent and having a peripheral l'lange, a packing between the flan es, means for clamping the packing and anges together, an overflow tube passing longitudinally through the plug or thimble and terminating above the bottom of the structure to maintain a constant volume-of'ice Water therein, and a cup on the bottom ofthe tube for holding water to seal the latter.

In testimony whereof I atlix my signature in presence ot two witnesses.

, WILLIAM C. COLEMA Witnesses JOHN H. Breanne, Enrrrr I1. BROWN. 

